In 1980, some of the country’s biggest names in politics were vying for the presidency. Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy was trying to elbow President Jimmy Carter from the Democratic throne, while Ronald Reagan became a political force by outmaneuvering a sitting president, Republican George H.W. Bush and independent John B. Anderson.
Author Craig Shirley examines the election in his new book “Rendezvous with Destiny,” out this week. The 740-page tome covers humorous bits — like how two Bush staffers found out they were having affairs with the same married reporter — and also game-changing moments.
“If today’s primary schedule was imposed in 1980, Reagan would have lost New Hampshire, and with it the Republican nomination, to George [H.W.] Bush,” Shirley told Yeas & Nays.
Shirley talked to many of the big players of the day, including Carter. “Even 30 years later, he was still very bitter about Kennedy challenging him in the primary,” Shirley observed.
And after penning his second book on Reagan, with a third on the way, the author finds Reagan irreplaceable.
“Men like Reagan don’t come along every day, they don’t grow on trees,” he said.
